Liberty House surprises Tata, JSW; Bids for Bhushan Steel

February 21, 2018

439

According to sources, Liberty House sent a Letter Of Intent to the insolvency resolution professional Madhukar Khandelwal on Feb 13, who in turn has accepted the offer and passed it on further to the Committee of Creditors. The lenders are scheduled to meet today to discuss the new bid received from Liberty House.

The bid from Liberty House is not only expected to be financially higher than Tata Steel‘s, but also be stronger in its proposal to turnaround Bhushan Power & Steel. Sources say Liberty House has cited its trackrecord in turning around bad assets, including the plants bought from Tatas in the UK.

Tata Steel contesting the last minute entry of Liberty House is an educated guess. Tata Steel had outbid JSW, and maybe even the latter will look at this opportunity to call for a rebid.

It is not yet known on what grounds the Liberty House bid is under consideration, or if the lenders will call for a legal opinion to decide on the eligibility of the Liberty House bid. While the lenders will seek the highest possible valuation & thus the smallest of haircuts, they may want to prevent any allegations of considering a bid received after an indicated bid deadline of February 8.